So it has finally happened. I have made the epic several thousand mile journey all the way back home. I don't quite know how I feel about it, and I'm getting a bit fed up of being asked if I'm honest but i'll have to bear with it for a month, but for the time being I'm just a bit spaced. I'm not sure what will happen to this blog but I do know that I still have a few stories left to tell from my time in Japan so I will at least be posting those. I'm going to start off with talking about the epic journey I went on in my last few weeks.
Before that though a little bit of boasting. I am know the proud owner of a level 3 qualification in Japanese language proficiency. I'm still not sure exactly how I passed, with full marks on one of the sections. I guess as usual luck was on my side ey.
Anyway boasting aside time to tell you a bit more about my travelling. My first stop was back off to Shikoku, specifically Ikumi beach for another surf trip. I've been there a few times and I've written about it before but it is a wicked place and the people are so damn cool. In fact this time around it was even better because now I could understand and talk to everyone.
It was not the most relaxing of holidays, not that I truly expected it to be. Between the 5am starts and the 12pm finishes I came out of it exhausted. That being said it was an amazing rest for the soul. There is something very therapeutic about just sitting about waiting for a wave to come, it gave me some much needed clear thinking time so that as well as being able to have a great time with friends I was also able to think through some problems I'd been having at work.
So have I gotten any better? Well not so much though I did manage to get standing a few times, I think all of that snowboarding and skating over winter and spring paid off a little bit haha. What was heartwarming though was finally being able to talk to our hosts, good friends of my girlfriends, who run a rental shop down there, Lani house for the record if you ever need to rent gear or find out the craic whilst in Ikumi.
It had been almost two years since I'd met them. Even back then I could feel a vibe that these guys were truly excellent people and know I could one hundred percent confirm it. One comment I seem to get all the time is, "Wow your Japanese has gotten really great so fast." I haven't noticed it and I think I've still got a long way to go, but for these people I guess I have gone from not speaking a word to having ill blown conversations in the time we hadn't seen each other so I'll let them off. For me I think I was inevitably going to learn the language. I just like talking too god damn much.
Another thing this trip reminded me of, I am most definitely a sea person. Growing up so close to it and with my dad having been a lighthouse keeper in his youth I think it was inevitable. 5am may have been early but the waves were perfect and the temperature just right. It was quite nice not to have to wear wet suits and just dive right in. The sea around Ikumi, coming up from the south Pacific, is also gorgeous, albeit with a few jellyfish floating about waiting to sting the unwary. I can't think of a much better way to spend free time than lolling about on the beach with some friends, it is something I've missed being way up on the mountains.
I would have loved to stick around a bit longer, especially as there was a nationwide surf tournament about to start, but alas I had a hospital appointment to get to, as well as other people dotted around the country I needed to see. I'm going to miss all the people at Ikumi, and I do promise to get back there, or Osaka, or meet everyone somewhere else in the world (Bali? Hawaii?) to say hey once more. Well I guess that is true for everywhere I went in my last few weeks. This was definitely the start of a long period of goodbyes.
Ja mata née
